Questions and Answers from Annual Public Meeting

August 16, 2017

Atlantic Health System, a leading non-profit health care delivery system in New Jersey, held its Annual Public Meeting on Thursday, July 28 at Morristown Medical Center. Those in attendance had the opportunity to hear leaders from the hospital system discuss operations and ongoing work to improve the communities it serves.

The presentation also included an open dialogue between Atlantic Health System CEO Brian Gragnolati and the audience. During which, he was asked whether patient test results would be shared between hospitals and physician practices on a single electronic medical records system.

Gragnolati replied that making patient medical records accessible to both employed physicians and those who work closely with the hospital system is an important issue to the organization. He added that while he hopes Atlantic Health System and physician practices can connect to offer a seamless transfer of patient information, the decision to do so will ultimately be left to the discretion of the individual practice.Atlantic Health System is working to empower our staff, physicians and communities with Epic, an electronic patient record that can help to better care for patients, tackle inefficiencies and reduce costs. Epic technology connects information from multiple sources, providing a single patient record and enhanced care opportunities. With a core Epic team working on implementation over the next three years, Atlantic Health System will use communication tools to improve care coordination, care transitions and the engagement of patients. Epic technology already has been implemented in 50 percent of our Atlantic Medical Group practices, with plans for the entire organization to use the same system by the end of 2018.